Effects Of Motivational Teaching Strategies On Non-English Majors’ Ideal L2Self

Dornyei (2005) put forward the L2Motivational Self System (L2MSS) by taking full advantage of "self and "identity" from the global view and with some new theories and methods in L2research. L2MSS has three parts, namely, ideal L2self, ought-to L2self and L2learning experience. All of them have the same characteristics that emphasize individual initiative, interactivity between individuals and society and dynamic psychological structure. Ideal L2self has the most influential power that higher L2motivation will grow from self-motivation if a L2learner hopes to eliminate the gap between his ideal L2self and actual L2self. A set of motivational strategies are proposed to motivate ideal L2self (Dornyei,2009), which is beneficial to both teachers and students to construct, strengthen learners’ideal L2self.The purpose of the research is to verify whether learners’L2motivation can be improved after the teacher helps learners construct and strengthen their ideal L2self, whether there are any significant differences in the use of motivational teaching strategies between two groups and whether learners’L2performance can be improved under the effects of motivational teaching strategies on non-English learners’ideal L2self.109subjects, who were enrolled in2012in Beijing Forestry University, took part in the experiment. The experiment involved two groups, one was an experimental group and the other was a control group. The experimental group involved54students of Class3majoring in Law or Business Administration; the control group involved55learners of Class1and Class2majoring in Law. First of all, students could be studied as subjects because there was no significant difference in their pre-test performance and pre-test questionnaires between the two groups by employing independent samples T-test. Then an experimental program was conducted in the experimental group but the control group adopted conventional teaching strategies. Finally, some comparisons were made after collecting the data and feedback from students. Some conclusions are made after the independent samples T-test and paired samples T-test run in SPSS18.0and combined with students’feedback. Firstly, students’L2motivation was improved under the effects of motivational teaching strategies on non-English majors’ideal L2self. Secondly, there were some significant differences between the two groups in the use of motivational teaching strategies; but the micro motivational teaching strategies became significantly different too in the control group by paired samples T-test, which indicated that motivational teaching strategies were exploited in the conventional teaching but more macro motivational teaching strategies should be adopted to stimulate L2learners. Thirdly, the paired samples T-test results in their L2performance of the two groups were both significantly different, implying a great improvement in their English proficiency after a year on campus. But the independent samples T-test result showed no significant difference in L2performance post-test. The reason may be summarized into two, one is time-lag effect put forward by Dr. Liu Fengge (2010) that students’ L2scores would not be improved in a short time and would generate further effect to drive learners to fight for their dreams in the long run, and the other one is due to lack of reliability and validity of the post-exam paper as it is their final exam. However, learners’L2performance can be regarded as a reminder for teachers to continue to maintain and strengthen learners’ideal L2self in order to stimulate L2motivation.Therefore, it is beneficial for both teachers and students to build and strengthen learners’ideal L2self.